Understanding Item Level
Posted by 
Heartbourne on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 - 22 Comments Tags: Addons, gear, ilevel, ilvl, item level, n00b
Heartbourne on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 - 22 Comments Tags: Addons, gear, ilevel, ilvl, item level, n00b 
You might have heard the term item level "iLvl" and not really known what it meant. It's sort of an extension of the tier system (or vice versa), and it's easy enough to understand at face value: a higher iLevel means more overall stats and superior item.Item levels are not something that you can see in the game with the default interface. You'll need an addon like iLevel Buddy. Most database websites have it as well, you can see it on WoWHead under "Quick Facts". These Conqueror's Darkruned Legguards have an iLevel of 226.
The iLvl of an item has some complicated formulas that were reverse engineered by players. Basically, the iLvl of an item, its rarity, and the slot it goes in, like shoulders, waist, and chest, give the item a pool of points to take from. Chest and helms get more points than say bracers and belts. With these points, stats are allocated. Each stat has a certain percentage of these "points" that it costs. For stats like Agility and Intellect, the trade-off is one to one, that is, it costs the same amount of "points" from the iLvl to get +1 Agility as it does +1 Intellect. Gear of the same iLevel then differs based on its armor class and the stats on it. Lets check out how many of these "points" each of the stats take up (via elitistjerks).
| Stat | Modifier |
| Strength | 1 |
| Agility | 1 |
| Stamina | 2/3 |
| Intellect | 1 |
| Spirit | 1 |
| Ratings | 1 |
| Attack Power | 1/2 |
| Spell Power | 6/7 |
| Mana per 5 | 5/2 |
| Block Value | 13/40 |
So if you had two items of the same iLvl, some stats might be +40 Intellect, +10 Intellect and +30 Spirit, +10 Intellect and +45 Stamina, or +10 Intellect and +35 Spell Power. A Priest might desire the +10 Intellect and +30 Spirit gear, but a Mage might prefer a +40 Intellect or +10 Intellect and +35 Spell Power. This is called itemization, that is, Blizzard pulling stats that players should want for their class on gear.
For example, lets compare 3 iLevel 200 leather belts: Dragonfriend Bracers, Bindings of the Tunneler, and Advanced Tooled-Leather Bands. If you add up all of the points (after multiplied by the modifiers in the table) on the Dragonfriend Bracers, you see that you will result in 163 (49/1 Agility+ 38*(2/3)=26 Stamina +38/1 crit rating + 100*(1/2)=50 attack power). All epic iLevel 200 bracers will result in that sum. For example, the Advanced Tooled-Leather Bands also give us 163 (+36/1 agility +43 *(2/3)=28 stamina + 49 Haste Rating + 100*(1/2)=50 Attack Power). However, because Bindings of the Tunneler are not epic, they should have lower stats, even though they are iLevel 200. Doing the calculation shows us that (+31 Agility +67*(2/3)=45 Stamina + 25 Expertise Rating + 84*(1/2)=42 Attack Power) is 143.
These calculations would give us the same numbers, 163 and 143, if we chose epic and uncommon cloth iLevel 200 bracers. We know something is Rogue gear when it's leather and has Agility and Critical Strike Rating on it, and something is Mage gear when it's cloth and has Intellect and Spell Power on it. However, the stats should sum up the same between them.
That was just for bracers. There are all sorts of equations that can tell you exactly how many of these points each slot will have at each iLevel, but it's complicated and boring.
Set Bonuses and special procs are (usually) a freebie. This is why tier pieces are usually so heavily valued; they come with awesome set bonuses without sacrificing stats. Sockets are usually 16 points.
When deciding which piece of gear is better, iLevel is a good guide, but not the end all. PvP items have Resilience on them, which is all but useless in PvE. Some stats may be less valuable to you than others; for example, few classes would value Stamina over AP/SP. Look at the stats carefully before deciding before you give up 10 Agility for 70 Stamina in what you think is a fantastic upgrade because you went from iLevel 200 to 213.
| 10-man | ilvl | 25-man |
| Naxx | 200 | |
| KT, EoE | 213 | Naxx |
| Ulduar | 219 | |
| Ulduar hard | 226 | Ulduar, KT/EoE |
| CC | 232 | Ulduar weapons |
| 239 | Ulduar hard | |
| CC hard | 245 | CC |
| 258 | CC hard |
The last thing you need to know is where to get what iLevel gear. Usually, the harder the raid, the higher the iLevel of the drops. Wow.com made this handy little table. Usually, you will want your gear to be within about 20 points of a raid before even considering it. Some gear can be crafted at high iLevels, but it requires Orbs, like Frozen Orbs or Runed Orbs which drop in the same areas as your desired iLevel gear does. You can buy them at top price at the auction house.
Questions or comments?
Reader Comments (22)
First! Great Post Very useful
*scratches his head* um huh?
I agree with what Crosis said. "Huh?"
While I applaud you for doing all this work, most people just wouldn't get what you are saying beyond the basics.
That is to say, all they (and myself as well) would get out of it is that: "Higher iLvL = better stuff".
So if that's the point you were trying to get across, kudos to you, you accomplised your goal. =)
I'm sort of left scratching my head as well, but I don't need to know the ilvl of a gear to decide what's best for my class / spec anyway.
Blogs like this and another a few months back (something to do witht he complex calculations regarding armour penetration or something) really go above and beyond what many players need or care to know.
As a casual player it was interesting to know that the item levels weren't just an arbitrary number designed to group items with the difficulty of a dungeon. But I don't care about the actual mechanics stuff like that just goes right over my head!
While the majority of players may not care to read an article like this, the hardcore number grinders among us probably love it and PL needs to write for them, too. The people who don't get excited by this might have been excited by the announcement of the raptor mini pets. The people who DO get excited by this probably didn't care about the raptor mini pet announcement. PL must, nonetheless cater to all if they want to be considered a "well-rounded" blog. Kudos for the article despite the fact that this much math almost made me pass out! =P
It´s called Theorycrafting.
Love how it´s starting to come to projectlore =)
I don't see whats not to understand. he is explaining the way stuff works so that "casual" players who don't have time/know to look this up can still know about it! His point is also that if your gear has the right stats for your class and the iLvl is with in 20 of the raid drops of where you're going then you're probe getting towards where you need to be!
There's also an exponent involved somewhere that makes it so items with multiple bonuses are, on the whole, better than items with a single bonus. So, for example, a Condor Belt of Intellect gives +61 Int, but a Condor Belt of the Owl gives +40 Int and +40 Spirit, and a Condor Belt of the Prophet gives +32 Int, +32 Spirit, and +37 Spell power. And yet, all of these have iLvl 170.
No one said PL shouldn't write these articles or that the site shouldn't cater to the hardcore crowd.
PL does a great job of giving us casual, hardcore and mytho' related stuff.
you dont need to know all of that all you need is to know what your class needs to stack and stack try to cut the losses to a minimun uif you do have to secrofise sacrofise the stats are worth less then others for your class try and make up for the loss with other gear or inchant especialy if you lose a major stat and balance teh gaining and loses out
What's so complex about this?
It's just the total score of an item, expressed as one number.
213 is better than 200. Duh. And, as an aside, one of the components of Auctioneer shows the item level. Very handy in case you forgot where you got those bracers when new ones drop.
If an item drops and it has the stats you need, and it's item number is higher than the one you have, you roll. If it has the same item number, you don't. Simple! Case closed!
Nothing is more irksome than some dumbass rolling on an item that's essentially identical to one they already have because the stats are slightly different.
Here's an example. Say... you're a healing Priest, and you have: http://www.wowwiki.com/Sash_of_the_Parlor from Anub'Rekhan in 25 man Naxx. The next week (or hell, 15 minutes later), this drops from Grand Widow Faerlina: http://www.wowwiki.com/Belt_of_False_Dignity What to do? You PASS. You already have an item level 213 healing belt. Now, you may rather have the spirit one if you had your druthers... so the proper thing to do then is wait for it to go to offspec roll before you roll on it. Don't be a loot whore.
Now... if your raid is so utterly hardcore that even a tiny remixing of stats makes the item much more valuable to you, then you have to assume that all other players qualified for that item also have items of the same item level. That's different, you're at the bleeding edge of gear and simple rules are not enough.
hahaha yeah I think we've all grasped the idea that 213 is better than 200 in this sense thx :) Its how they arrived at these numbers and the weightings involved that's more than some of us care to know - well I don't anyway.
I agree with cocopuff all you need to know are what stats your class/role needs, that's what really counts. Put it this way if the stats were higher then you'd use it nevermind the fact the item lvl was higher too.
But regarding the above example, I'm not sure I would even pick up the Sash as it has no spirt - as a healer I'd be looking for int and sp not so much stam but I'll take it on the belt! Point is I'd probably wait for somthing with sp to drop as to not sacrifice that stat.
"If an item drops and it has the stats you need, and it’s item number is higher than the one you have, you roll. If it has the same item number, you don’t. Simple! Case closed!"
Thats the dumbest thing i've heard.
Also, the example you linked show you why. Ironically, you concluded otherwise with said example.
This is what RatingsBuster is for ^^
No, my example was quite good.
Both items are essentially identical. Yes, one has more spirit, but the other has MP/5. While spirit is scalable (as opposed to MP/5... there is no advantage to having 55 spirit at the point over 22 MP/5
Just for fun let's use my char for comparison. I'll use the Parlor belt (I still have it) and a spirit loaded healing belt from Ulduar. Certainly... an Ulduar Spirit item is better than a Naxx one with no spirit, right?
Ok, unbuffed, with the Parlor belt, I have 945 int, 817 spirit, and 304 MP/5 while casting.
With the 219 belt (Binding of the Dragon Matriarch) I get 934 int and 880 spirit, with 296 MP/5
So, I LOSE a tiny bit of regen and int with the spirit item, but I gain .37% crit. These two items are very close (only 6 item level difference) So it was a 'sidegrade' for me. The spirit scales better when raid buffed, and the crit helps when I'm in shadow form (Which I'm called on to do quite often)
So! You're a healing priest. The Parlor belt drops and you have an inferior item. Do you wait for a spirit drop, which will not be any better... or do you roll?
You roll.
Simple rule: If it has your stats (Int, SP, MP/5, crit, or haste for a healer) and it's higher than what you have, you roll. If it has a stat you don't want, like Hit rating in this case, you pass regardless. Unless, or course, noone wants it and you can roll 'offspec' for your 'Shadow set'.
The failure with 'theorycraft' over simple rules is that it assumes you can 'construct' the perfect set of gear for each stage of your character's development. You can't. You are at the whims of what drops, how many times you can run that instance, competition for drops, and at some point... you have to give up on the ultimate item and move on to the next raid up. What, are you going to pass on the Parlor belt over and over again because it has MP/5 instead of spirit?
You're example isn't bad, its actually a pretty good example of 'oh man these two are just so similar which do I keep which do I roll on' situations.
In my experince (and remember I'm a casual player so I don't raid) I put together a list of items from the boss'/dungeons I'm looking at clearing, so for me the decision's alrady made on what I want to roll on before I even get there. I actualy enjoyed putting together my little shopping list of blues then heroic blues. :P
That all said I would observe that in your example the item lvl never really comes into it, you're still very much looking at the stats and their affects on your stats and achieving a balance/trade off (between the items).
Just saying is all, I'm not suggesting I think the item lvl is pointless or anything.
what the fuck does wtf stand for? and waaaaaa?
Hard mode on CC Hard. that must be hard. :)
What Kul Tiras said makes total sense. I would never roll on a item that was stated slightly different than my current item of the same ilevel, unless no one else needed it for main/off spec. I would however roll on every item that was higher ilevel with my stats regardless of how exactly the stats were configured.
So does a level 226 item prevent less damage rather than a level 200? I understand the intell and stamina aspects.
It if has stats on it like block, defend, parry, armor, then yes.